Denver cop beats Black man into coma

Denver cop Daniel Swanson beat Thomas Charles Armstrong into a coma in the early morning on Nov. 11. The victim’s brother, Earl A. Armstrong, is an outspoken critic of the Denver Police Department and has feared reprisal for his outspokenness. Earl A. Armstrong has been critical of cops since his father, Earl F. Armstrong, was shot to death in 1980 by police in a city just outside the Denver Metropolitan Area.

T.C. Armstrong, on life support.

The case of Thomas Charles Armstrong, 37, who is on life support, will be heard by the Denver Independent Monitor, Rich ard Rosenthal. The city of Denver created the monitor position after Paul Childs, a mentally disabled, 15-year-old Black youth, was killed by Denver cop James Tourney on July 5, 2003. Hun dreds of activists and Denver residents demanded justice and community control at the time.

Monitor Rosenthal can only investigate 20 percent of cases of excessive force by a cop, and can suggest procedural changes, but cannot mete out punishment or make recommendations to punish or prosecute cops. Many Black and Latino residents doubt that the monitor, a position which will cost the city $500,000 a year, will solve the problems caused by police brutality.

According to police, T.C. Armstrong was walking on East 11th Ave. and Xenia streets when he was stopped by Officer Daniel Swanson, who was reportedly responding to a silent alarm. Swanson said he stopped T.C. because the Black male was “behaving suspiciously.”

Swanson has never elaborated on T.C.’s alleged suspicious behavior. During the course of the stop, T.C. was brutally beaten, with lacerations across his face, arms, torso, groin area and his legs. T.C.’s groin area and testicles are swollen where he was repeatedly kicked and stomped, and he has bite marks on his body.

The spokesperson for the Denver Police Department has criticized Armstrong and his family, calling their claims of brutality “ludicrous,” and claiming that Swanson was protecting himself. The spokesperson criminalized T.C. by dredging up his past, all in an attempt to justify the beating.

It is important to point out that officer Daniel Swanson has no injuries. His claim that T.C. was resisting arrest is flimsy at best, and according to witnesses other than police witness Jarrod Foust, the claim that T.C. resisted arrest is suspect.

The Denver Police’s first published statements were that someone called 911 in response to T.C. rolling around in the streets, screaming and yelling for help, that Swanson arrived on the scene shortly after 1 a.m., approached T.C. and defended himself when T.C. attacked him. Denver Police also claimed to not know how T.C. got lacerations across his face, and claimed that he may have had those before Swanson arrived.

Cops had victim in cuffs

Other witnesses have come forward to say that T.C. began screaming for help while being attacked, and someone called 911. Witness Janea Monroe came forward on Nov. 16 for a news conference in front of Denver Police District 2 headquarters. Monroe said that she and two friends had driven by the site of the incident at 12:40 a.m. and saw T.C. handcuffed, with a laceration on one eye, and that a cop was kneeling on his neck with a weapon, either a firearm or a Taser electrick shock gun against T.C.’s head.

The Denver Police Department has made numerous statements contradicting the original statement and has only recently released the names of the officers involved.

There have been two rallies of dozens of activists calling for justice for T.C., who is still on life support.

Antiracist, anti-imperialist activist Shareef Aleem told Workers World: “Human rights groups point to the brutality of the United States military in Abu Ghraib and Guan tan amo Bay, but Black people face this same brutality everyday, in every ghetto, and until we address this, we are never gonna stop the other. I thank Workers World for supporting communities of color and being active and reporting on what’s happening.”

The father of T.C.’s brother, Earl A. Armstrong, was unjustly killed by cops in 1980, his family says. Earl F. Armstrong, who was mentally disabled, was shot by cops in the back of the head following a traffic stop. This event motivated Earl A. Armstrong to organize against police brutality, and had deeply scarred T.C.

The Armstrong family has reported constant surveillance by Denver cops. Earl A. Armstrong has been stopped and cited at least once, and is followed every time he leaves his house. But, he told Workers World, he and his family will continue fighting for justice, as T.C. fights for his life.

Both Earl A. Armstrong and Shareef Aleem said that the wider antiwar community must take up the war being waged daily against people of color.